Snails Galore!

[IsaacOrth]

I have a 55-gallon tank and it is infested with snails. The whole substrate is basically a bunch of snails. I want to get rid of every last one of them because they are an eyesore. I believe they are Malaysian trumpet snails by the looks of things. They are everywhere. Its a freshwater aquarium with lots of plants. Please help! Thanks!

 

[Colin_T]

You can use copper but it kills shrimp and doesn't always kill the snails because they close their operculum and wait until the copper is gone.

The most effective way is to strip the tank down, replace the gravel, wash everything and then set the tank back up.

You can boil the gravel to kill them but then have to monitor the ammonia level in the tank. The dead snails break down and produce ammonia that can harm the fish. So if there is heaps of snails, then chuck the gravel and get new stuff, or remove the dead snails and rinse the gravel, then monitor ammonia levels for a few weeks.

 

[Wills]

I have a 55-gallon tank and it is infested with snails. The whole substrate is basically a bunch of snails. I want to get rid of every last one of them because they are an eyesore. I believe they are Malaysian trumpet snails by the looks of things. They are everywhere. Its a freshwater aquarium with lots of plants. Please help! Thanks!

It will feel a bit counterintuitive but the best option is to add a different species of snail called Assasin Snails aka snail eating snails add about 5 to your tank and you will gradually reduce your population.

Wills

 

[IsaacOrth]

It will feel a bit counterintuitive but the best option is to add a different species of snail called Assasin Snails aka snail eating snails add about 5 to your tank and you will gradually reduce your population.

Wills

I got 2 a few months ago but they didn't do much. There are probably thousands in my tank. I could get a lot more. What do assassin snails do when no more snails are left to eat?

 

[IsaacOrth]

You can use copper but it kills shrimp and doesn't always kill the snails because they close their operculum and wait until the copper is gone.

The most effective way is to strip the tank down, replace the gravel, wash everything and then set the tank back up.

You can boil the gravel to kill them but then have to monitor the ammonia level in the tank. The dead snails break down and produce ammonia that can harm the fish. So if there is heaps of snails, then chuck the gravel and get new stuff, or remove the dead snails and rinse the gravel, then monitor ammonia levels for a few weeks.

I would kind of like to use the same gravel. But I would love to use sand as well. I've got some sand but with my algae problems, I replaced it with gravel because I thought the sand could have been part of the algae problem.

 

[Colin_T]

I got 2 a few months ago but they didn't do much. There are probably thousands in my tank. I could get a lot more. What do assassin snails do when no more snails are left to eat?

eat each other or starve

most algae problems are caused by too much light and not enough live plants to use the light

 

[IsaacOrth]

Do floating plants mess up lighting for other plants and my viewing pleasure?

 

[Colin_T]

floating plants will reduce the light going to the bottom of the tank. If you have a lot of plants in the tank, you don't normally need floating plants. But it also depends on the fish. A number of fish like some surface cover.